Light Fortress
Chapter 178 - 165: Returning to Yuan Dan Street

Chapter 178: Chapter 165: Returning to Yuan Dan Street

Having just bid farewell to his wife and left the residence in Lion Alley—

Mr. Shu’s phone began to ring.

"Yuan Dan Street, quick."

The old fellow was concise, throwing out a location before hanging up the call.

Yuan Dan Street had become a shadow in the hearts of many residents of the old city district.

During the last sudden fog, many innocents breathed in the smog and suffered "spiritual pollution." They didn’t realize it was the power of an Extraordinary Sealed Object, instead thinking they had contracted a serious illness. Some even thought that the old street was haunted, and they had caught the attention of something unclean... The latter explanation was actually quite apt.

After all, isn’t a runaway seal similar to a "ghost" in that it’s an unscientific phenomenon?

And isn’t extraordinary pollution the same as something unclean?

Once the call ended, Gu Shen frowned slightly. He knew Zhou Jiren’s character well... He usually didn’t contact him unless there was a special circumstance.

Was it something to do with the special investigation team?

...

...

Gu Shen was in the old city district, not far from Yuan Dan Street. It took him only five minutes to hurry there.

The night was shrouded.

A fine drizzle floated down from the sky.

Two dim, yellowish Ku lights glowed on the street corners, their weak luminance seeping through the lampshades, scattering amidst the mist.

The visibility in the area was not high.

After the fog on this old street dissipated, the remains of ruined and collapsing buildings, vast expanses of empty factories, and the dry bones and spots of blood from last time were all gone, having been cleaned up... At first glance, one might only feel that the old street was somewhat cold and desolate, with no other abnormalities.

But then Gu Shen ignited the Blazing Fire.

The long night no longer appeared dark in his eyes.

Instead, it became... a plethora of vibrant colors.

The miscellaneous hues swirling in the air were the visible manifestations of Extraordinary Essence escaping.

Gu Shen sensed something was off with Yuan Dan Street. The extraordinary incident on this old street had been cleaned up already; logically, there shouldn’t be so much Extraordinary Essence drifting around anymore.

At the end of the rainy street.

A young woman in a trench coat with a long sword strapped to her waist and an old man in a suit stood under the same black umbrella, silently still, facing an iron factory whose walls were broken and collapsing in a downward slope.

"Teacher, Senior Sister Lu."

Gu Shen approached them.

Lu Nanjin, holding the umbrella, stared silently at the rain curtain in the darkness. The rain which should have been falling straight down, was, several meters in front of her, blown aslant by an invisible wind, trickling down like a hand caressing smooth silk.

And these raindrops should have hit the ground.

But in the air... they burst apart one after another with a snap.

Gu Shen watched this scene in surprise.

"Lan Qie can sense the airflow of the wind. After activating the third form, the origin can be released externally to some degree, although it’s not yet able to fully construct a domain," Senior Sister Lu explained, holding the umbrella. She stretched out her hand, her palm facing the iron factory: "But if the spiritual power is strong enough... without drawing a sword, one can still inflict slash wounds, like... this!"

"Boom!"

The countless fine raindrops were swept up by the sudden fierce wind, turning into myriad sharp blades!

In an instant.

Thousands of tiny steel needles penetrated into the iron sheets of the factory.

Lan Qie burst forth!

The cracking sounds erupted simultaneously in a flash.

The already unstable factory collapsed completely under the enormous force, but what happened next was astonishing... When Senior Sister Lu withdrew her palm, the shattered pieces of the tin shed began to reassemble.

This scene was like Luo Er using spiritual power to perform a "Broken Mirror Reunion."

"What is this?" Gu Shen was somewhat puzzled.

"This is... a reset."

Zhou Jiren spoke indifferently, seemingly familiar with such a phenomenon, "This factory’s timeline has been locked at a certain moment, no matter how it is destroyed... it will be reset."

A reset?

Gu Shen thought of the Time Sand dream he had experienced; the ability to reset dreams wasn’t rare, but if it occurred in reality... wouldn’t that be too terrifying?

Thankfully, it was just an old factory.

Gu Shen’s expression was severe as he carefully examined the slowly reassembling, reverting factory.

In his Blazing Fire Vision, the Extraordinary Essence of the factory was incredibly dense.

No.

It shouldn’t be like this...

Clearly, the reason for the appearance of stray Extraordinary Essence on Yuan Dan Street again was because of this factory... Gu Shen remembered clearly, this was the factory where Xiao placed the Gospel Box.

But after killing Shi Li, he had already devoured the Extraordinary Essence here once, leaving none behind.

"Today, the Transcendents from the Command were at Yuan Dan Street to take care of the final report, doing routine checks... They discovered this anomaly here and reported it. The case of the great fog on Yuan Dan Street, being directly linked to ’Xiao’, is under the jurisdiction of Da Du’s special investigation team which has the highest authority."

Zhou Jiren smiled at Gu Shen: "Now, we have taken over the entire district."

Wow...

That sounded quite nice.

"There are generally only three possibilities for the occurrence of a ’reset’... The first is the inherent energy of some special sealed object, and the second is that a Transcendent has released their domain, which has the power of resetting."

Zhou Jiren mentioned only the first two possibilities, remarking lightly, "The sealed objects capable of ’resetting’ are only a few, and they are S-rank taboo items, locked away in Mithril boxes of the highest specification on all five continents. You can imagine what kind of impact the use of such power would have on order, can’t you?"

Gu Shen’s expression remained grave as he slowly nodded his head.

"As for the second possibility, this scenario is created by a Transcendent who possesses the power of ’reset’..." Zhou Jiren smiled, "That possibility can also be directly excluded."

"As far as I know, Transcendents capable of ’resetting time’ are even rarer than the aforementioned taboo items."

"Just like the Lan Qie you just saw, the third form corresponds to the powers of the seventh to the ninth layers of Deep Sea, origin released."

"Deep Sea 12th Floor corresponds to the different depths of Extraordinary Ability excavation. Out of a hundred Transcendents with abilities marginally related to time, it’s unlikely even one can develop the power of ’reset.’ And the cost of initiating a ’reset’ is tremendous; he wouldn’t use it to reset a mere factory."

Zhou Jiren continued slowly, "That leaves us with the last possibility, there is an ’Order Collapse Point’ within this factory."

An Order Collapse Point?

The little black dot from the Tenth Floor of Huazhi’s Underground?

Gu Shen remembered Cui Zhongcheng once told him... such Order Collapse Points cannot be dealt with, eliminated, only collected and stored.

His expression tensed.

Mr. Shu glanced at his Closed-door Disciple and said, "From the look on your face, it seems you already know what an ’Order Collapse Point’ is... Did you go to the last level of Huazhi? Did Cui Zhongcheng tell you?"

The old man truly was cunning... nothing could be hidden from him.

"I only have a rough understanding," Gu Shen admitted openly. "At that time, I only looked from a distance behind the protective shield in Huazhi’s Tenth Floor... In fact, I don’t understand the detailed information about the ’Order Collapse Point’."